Shutdown could delay plans to block imports of fake organic produce

The U.S. Department of Agriculture planned to put new rules in place to block fake produce imports by the end of 2019. File Photo by Gary C. Caskey/UPI | License Photo

Jan. 17 (UPI) -- The government shutdown is stalling plans to block fraudulent imports of organic produce into the United States.

The 2018 farm bill instructed the U.S. Department of Agriculture to develop and implement regulations to reduce the amount of fake organic food being imported. The decision came after The Washington Post reported that millions of pounds of imported grains were being marked and sold as organic last year -- though they appeared to not be organic.

Part of the reason this was able to happen is the laws regulating organic imports were written in 2000 -- before organics had blossomed into a global market, said Laura Batcha, the executive director of the Organic Trade Association. Those laws do not allow for the utilization of the latest technology for tracking imports, nor do they give the USDA the right to directly oversee other countries' third-party organic certifiers.

The new USDA rules will likely include those measures, and others, Batcha said.

"Organic producers aren't so much worried about what's happening today as what is coming," Batcha said. "Because there's no sign of an end."

Fortunately, current organic inspections are done by third-party organizations, not the federal government, Batcha said. That means those inspections continue unfettered.

However, complaints about violations are investigated by the USDA's National Organic Program. NOP will not investigate any new complaint until regular government operations resume. The agency received 386 complaints in 2018.